Monday, March 11, 2019

As an expat Canadian (New York City has been home for over 20 years), a question I am frequently asked by foreign startups seeking funding or new customers is “how do I network in the United States?” Oh, if only it was so easy to give a single piece of networking advice for that 50 state question. Here’s why: when it comes to networking, it is as much about location as the people you desire to meet . One set of networking rules does not fit all geographic locations. To be successful at building networks in new cities, you need to understand how the locals interact – as it will improve the likelihood you’ll make the right connections and enhance the interactions you make.

“In Austin, breakfast tacos and craft coffee rule for a first meeting - and don't be too formal as Austin is a super casual city ” – Julia Cheek, founder of digital health platform EverlyWell

Know Before You GoDo your research on the investors or companies you want to meet, and the city you’ll be meeting them in, well before you book a flight or send a “here’s my pitch deck can we meet over coffee” email. You’ve undoubtedly heard the advice countless times before - and it’s guidance worth adhering to, as it will save you endless wasted hours and dollars in the long run. Google meetups in the city where you’re headed. Sign up for hyper-local event newsletters. Crowd source suggestions through Twitter. Whatever your source of information, study and take a keen interest in how the local entrepreneur community interacts – then mirror their behavior.

“Some of the networks do not mix with other networks. It is important to know which are the most relevant networks for your specific startups and in some cases, you might want to participate in completely different events so that you build connections in several networks.” - Itxaso del Palacio. Investment Director at London-based Notion Capital.

Learn The Unwritten RulesNashville's business community prides itself on accessibility and a willingness to meet regardless of seniority , Mucker Capital’s Monique Villa tells me. People who want to be connected within the Toronto startup ecosystem should look to add value , according to Janet Bannister, partner at Real Ventures. As a Canadian I can confirm that we are a friendly, sincere and helpful nation and it is not surprising that the Toronto tech ecosystem reflects these values. The point here is that every city operates a little bit differently and the more you understand those nuances, the more successful your network-building will be. Ask the investors or advisors you already have if they’ve done business in the city you’re headed to – then pepper them with questions about their overall experience (rather than immediately leaping into an ask for introductions).

“People will go out of their way to be helpful and, generally speaking, entrepreneurs, investors and others in the community genuinely care about each other and want others to be successful as they believe that a "rising tide lifts all boats" and the more success stories we have in Toronto, the more likely it is that other successes will follow.” - Janet Bannister, partner at Real Ventures

Skip The Sales Pitch Your goal is to make long-term connections, not simply to close a funding round or land a business deal. Entrepreneurship is a precarious, challenging and uncertain pursuit. When resources (such as time, money and introductions) are scarce, the default is to invest those scarce resources in those with shared values and a demonstrated commitment to the community. If you’re not prepared to invest in the targeted ecosystem, why should they invest in you?

“Everyone knows everyone, literally. In such a close-knit ecosystem like Singapore, all parties play in the same pool - government, corporate innovation teams, startups, accelerators, VCs, angels... One particular thing that people like talking about (think Crazy Rich Asians) is their family ties and the rich families they know.” – Pocket Sun, Managing Partner, SoGal Ventures

Warm Introductions Work BestThe foundation of strong introduction is trust – and trust does not arise from a perfectly crafted pitch deck[/tweet_quote] or complimentary email or hunting down an investor via a conference app. Avoid conferences is the advice of Singapore-based Anne Marie Droste, partner at Entrepreneur First. Droste, as with many venture capitalists seeks introductions that come from her network, preferably from another startup. “CEO to CEO [introductions] are always best for intros” in her mind. While avoiding conferences may sound harsh, I would suggest avoiding conferences if your only goal is to secure investment. If you’re attending to learn more about the dynamics of a startup ecosystem or further develop relationships you’ve made previously, then by all means, attend those conferences!

“Whatsapp is where it’s at - no one emails. Business cards are less necessary than people like to think - just when you talk to corporations.’ – Anne Marie Droste, partner, Entrepreneur First (Singapore)

Understand Communication PreferencesTo build a strong network you need to recognize the communication preferences of the other person . Are they a “meet for coffee person” or a 15-minute phone call type? The same is true when it comes to technology. The good news is that many investors share their communication preferences from interviews, podcasts, blogs and tweets. You should be able to discern the best way to engage. Be prepared to adopt their preferred communication tool(s) when necessary. “ WeChat is the predominate messaging app in China and it's the most important tool for networking and getting things done” Tina Cheng, Managing Partner at Cherubic Ventures tells me, adding that the custom in China is to add business contacts on WeChat by scanning a QR code. Figure out before you reach out whether you need to get a QR code, download a new app or jump on a video chat platform, and avoid looking like yet another startup founder who doesn’t know the local networking rules.

"The Warsaw start-up scene and investor community love networking. the language of communication is English. It is easy to get a meeting with any investor out there, people are very open. Just send an email ." - Kinga Stanislawska, founder and managing partner, Experior Venture Fund

Source: https://www.forbes.com
Image Credit: Getty | Getty Images

ABOUT WNFPWestchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Friday, March 8, 2019

How would you like to learn some easy tips about how to improve business relationships? Let me start with a story. Over the past six months, I’ve been really exploring how to prospect for new clients. One of the things I started doing in 2018 is create courses around LinkedIn. I went down that road myself. I bought Sales Navigator at $80 a month. I tried like crazy to use that to get new business. And I failed.

Then I started teaching courses on how to set up LinkedIn better, and I had a few people take it and they loved it. But it never caught on. One of the things I learned is that people are basically LinkedIn-2averse. And there’s a reason for that.

First and foremost, there’s not a lot to do on there. You can read articles and that’s pretty much it. You know some people obviously on Facebook are playing games or joining groups or whatever it is. But the level of conversation on there is way lower. And the other thing that happens is something that I call connect and pitch. What happens with connect and pitch is somebody connects with you and then immediately, right after they connect, they sell you something. I just got one today for somebody who says, hey I’ve got business funding for you. A couple of weeks ago I got one from a guy who is recruiting for his MLM. I could go on and on, but let’s get to the bottom line.

Sometimes you get these messages in your inbox saying, “Hey, you’ve got a new connection request on LinkedIn.” When you check it out, before you can even exit the program, the person is already pitching you what they want to sell you.

If you’re one of those people that get a lot of that kind of contact, chances are you’re not gonna be real anxious to log in and try that same thing yourself. Why? Because it doesn’t work.

One Simple Email

Let me tell you something that I did. I’ve been working with a program called Nimble. It’s a CRM. Now you probably know the term CRM, Customer Relationship Manager. You probably have a CRM. You may have something as basic as your address book, or something really intense like Sales Force, HubSpot or Infusionsoft, or something along that lines. There are tons of them. But the biggest problem with CRMs is that they’re a lot like LinkedIn. Everybody’s got ’em, but not many people use ’em. Why? Because they’re not 100% sure what to with them, and often they just don’t work.

But I figured out a little bit of a secret, and that’s what I’m gonna talk about today. So the secret is this: At the end of the year, I went through my CRM in Nimble and basically pulled in everybody I did business with last year who I’d built a website for. I don’t do a lot of them, but I had a handful. I put them into a list. And I tagged them. Then I created an email and said, “Hey, I know you haven’t heard from me in a while, but there are a lot of changes in WordPress. There is WordPress 5.0 and Google Recaptcha 3.0, and they are causing havoc with a lot of websites. They’re causing a lot of people to get a ton of spam. On top of that, some sites are crashing because the plugins or the server are too old, or whatever.”

So I said, “Hey, if you’re having any of these problems, I’ve got a special for you. I will monitor your site and fix any of those problems for a fee. If you’re interested, just email me back or call me or click this button.” The next morning I got up, and all of the sudden I saw that I had a whole bunch of money in my PayPal account because people didn’t even bother calling. They just went and said, “Okay I’m ready.” So just by reconnecting with past clients, using that CRM and tagging them and sending them a targeted email, I was able to increase my sales before the end of the year.

Just Log In

Have you ever heard the term GIGO? It stands for garbage in, garbage out. One of the things I want you to do, and this is the first tip, is have a commitment. The commitment is to log in every day and do something. So here’s the first step, alright? Take a look at either old data or new data. Old data could be something from your QuickBooks or something that you already have in there. Verify that some of the people that you are working with are still at the same company and still have the same phone number. You can look them up on LinkedIn, you can check your email, whatever it is.

Maybe you want to add some new people. So let’s say maybe your concept is you add five new people and you update five old people. Or maybe you just update ten of your current contacts, whatever it is. So number one, log in daily.

Do Something Daily

The second thing is to do something daily. In other words, get in there and actively update just ten records. That’s all you need to do. In ten days, in two weeks you have 100 records done. And it shouldn’t take that long, maybe five, ten, fifteen minutes, worse case scenario. We’ll talk in the future about what to do with them and some ideas on how to maximize it, but the bottom line is you’ve got to start from a baseline of good data. Garbage, in, garbage out, so get rid of the garbage.

Verify Your Data

The third tip is to verify the old ones. Just go in and look whatever data you can find. You can just get on the phone and say “Hi, it’s Brian. I just wanted to double check a couple quick things. I don’t want to bug ya. Number one, you’re still at the company B, your email address is still this, and the address is this, you haven’t moved.” Just get as much good data on people as you can. So in that 10 or 15 minutes, maybe you make one or two phone calls, just to connect that or send an email, whatever it takes.

Tag… You’re It

Tip number four, and this is one of the most important ones you have to do, is to organize that data. As you start working with your old data, make sure that you’re tagging them or categorizing them or whatever it is that your CRM allows you to do. In the case of the clients that I put in that I was able to sell something to, I went in and put in WordPress clients. Now, I have a whole bunch of other clients that I’ve done WordPress work for, but they’re also tagged as people that are already buying my monitoring services. So I was able to go in and segment the audience saying I want to look at everybody I’ve done WordPress for, but who are not using me for WordPress monitoring services. That’s how was able to segment and send those people an individual email. That’s one of the cool things about Nimble; I can do a group email but it looks like an individual email coming from just my inbox as if I was using my desktop machine. So it made it super simple to communicate once I started organizing them.

Start out with the basics. How about: old clients, new clients, maybe even past clients, people that you haven’t talked to in more than a year. Maybe it’s prospects. Those are four categories you can easily add. Then maybe start adding in the types of product or services that you have for those people. Then you can start to build a database of good, useful information that you can segment targeted information to.

Clean Up Old Data

The final tip I want to give you is just do a data cleanup. That is, if you have multiple records for the same person, try to merge them. Programs like Nimble will let you find duplicate data and select both of them and merge them together into one.

Final Thoughts

Let me leave you with some final thoughts. First and foremost, get acting. Get some work done. Spend five to ten minutes a day getting your data cleaned up or added. Secondly, have a plan. Think about old clients, new clients, prospects. Think about what can you do to communicate with them, and we will cover that in more detail in future podcast episodes and blog posts. Log in every day, make a commitment to do something and start to build a plan on how you can better communicate to build better relationships to grow your business in the coming year.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas or questions about showing the concepts presented. Have you had to overcome any of the presented concepts? What worked and what did not live up to expectations? Do you have any ideas or advice you could share?

ABOUT WNFPWestchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Thursday, March 7, 2019

When you embark on your entrepreneurial journey, your first goal probably involves spreading brand awareness and recruiting customers. Many business owners reach out to the media for publicity, eager to share their story and promote their business.

To achieve this, however, you must approach the situation properly. Building positive media relationships is possibly the most important task of entrepreneurship, and failing to do so can be detrimental to your company. Here’s how to do it – the right way.

1. Do your research.

Before you pitch a journalist, you'll want to understand who they are and what they cover. Going in blind will show that you're only in it for yourself, rather than searching for a mutually beneficial arrangement.

"To make a good impression, it's essential to research and understand a reporter's beat before sending them a pitch," said George Bradley, PR manager at Circa Interactive. "By taking an in-depth look at the stories they've covered and the articles they've written recently, you'll be able to get a thorough understanding of the stories they're most interested in and will therefore have a much better chance of pitching them something they'll be receptive to."

Also, keep in mind that every journalist is different. Some like to be pitched via email, while others favor phone calls. Rather than assuming, ask for their preferred method of communication off the bat and stick with it, said Vicki LaBrosse, director of global public relations at Edge Legal Marketing.

Once you start communicating with contacts on a more regular basis, create a list or spreadsheet to keep track of each person. Include information like their email, beat, previous collaboration, the last time you pitched them and any other details you deem necessary.

"Keeping a list of media contacts that you have developed a professional rapport with can be a great way to maintain relationships and land easy PR wins in the future," said Bradley. "It's important to send these contacts personalized pitches and reference any previous work that you've done with them. This will help to show your appreciation for the media placements they have helped to facilitate and ensure that they remember who you are."

Also, he added, pitch these contacts often enough that they keep you in mind, but not so often that they roll their eyes every time they see an email from you. You can refer to your list to determine a schedule that works best for both sides.

3. Respect their time.

Journalists are busy people with perpetually full inboxes. Their time, just like yours, is valuable, and you should treat it as such.

"When working with the media, speed of response is critical to success," said Bradley. "You cannot sit on a journalist's response for a couple of days, or even a few hours in some cases, without potentially losing the opportunity completely ... Not responding quickly is a surefire way to damage a relationship with reporters and editors. You will only have one opportunity to get it right, so clear communication with everyone involved is vital."

If you can't form an elaborate response to their email or request right away, Bradley recommended letting them know that you're working on it so they don't seek out someone else instead.

On the flip side, make sure you're patient with them as well. LaBrosse advised giving your contacts space in between pitches and messages.

"Follow-up is fair, but too many reminders may be considered annoying or even spam," she said. "If you don't get a response, do not be afraid to rework the pitch – it is all part of the process. In the end, if the relationship is nurtured and respected, the reward will come."Source: https://www.businessnewsdaily.comImage Credit: Pressmaster | Shutterstock

ABOUT WNFPWestchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Your marketing plan shouldn’t stay stagnant for years and years. You need to adapt to new trends, learn from mistakes and take advantage of new technology tools and platforms if you want to be successful over a long period of time. To learn more about evolving your marketing strategy, here are some recent tips and insights from members of the online small business community.Avoid These Marketing MistakesYou’ll inevitably make plenty of mistakes while marketing your small business. But it is possible for you to avoid some of them, if you learn from others who have been there before. In this post, Neil Patel shares some of the marketing mistakes that have cost him through the years, so you can learn valuable lessons.

Consider Opportunities for AI in Content MarketingAI is making an impact on many different parts of the business world. Content marketing is certainly one of those areas. So if you create content for your business, consider the opportunities included in this Content Marketing Institute post by Dennis Shiao.

Get Ready for These Marketing Changes in 2019The marketing landscape is constantly evolving for small businesses. If you want to keep up, you need to be aware of the trends that are impacting your industry and the platforms that are available to reach customers most effectively. Learn more about the landscape for 2019 in this Target Marketing post and video from Thorin McGee.Measure Your Social Media PerformanceTo evolve your social media strategy, you need to determine what parts of your current strategy are working and what parts may be wasting time. In this post, Rebekah Radice offers tips for measuring your business’s performance on social media. And BizSugar members commented on the post here.

Take Advantage of Ecommerce Success with Instagram StoriesInstagram has been adding features to its Stories platform aimed at helping ecommerce companies easily connect potential customers with their products. If you have an ecommerce business, be sure to learn about these features in this Marketing Land post by Jon Kroopf.

Use These Content Marketing Tools to Gain Insights, Inspiration and AmplificationTo make your content marketing efforts really take shape, you need insights on how your current content is performing, inspiration for new content and ways to amplify that new content. For tools that can help you accomplish all of those goals, see this TopRank Marketing post by Caitlin Burgess.

Urge Landing Page Visitors to Buy with a Countdown TimerTo encourage people to complete a purchase right away, it helps to create a sense of urgency. There’s no better way to do that than with an actual timer, counting down until the particular deal they’re interested in will no longer be available. Learn more in this GetResponse post by Sezgin Hergul.

Build Traffic with PinterestIf you’re not already using Pinterest to drive traffic to your blog or website, you’re missing out on a very unique and powerful tool. It can be intimidating to learn new techniques and platform. But in this MyblogU post, Ann Smarty details exactly how you can use Pinterest to build traffic for your business websites.Find Out If Your SEO Strategy Is Actually Working for Your BrandThere is no perfect SEO strategy that’s right for every business. Sometimes, you need to try new things and wait to see the results. In this Right Mix Marketing post, Renu Sharma explains how you can determine whether or not your current strategy is really working for your business, so you can make changes if necessary.

Change Up Your Social Media StrategySocial media is constantly changing. So if you’re not changing along with it, your business will be left behind. In this Strella Social Media post, Rachel Strella predicts that 2019 will be a year of big change in the social media world and explains what that means for businesses. See what BizSugar users are saying about the post here.

Source: https://smallbiztrends.com
Image Credit: Shutterstock

ABOUT WNFPWestchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Spotting the business trends can be difficult for leaders and unfortunately, not all predictions may come true. However, some of these trends are so obvious that ignoring them would be same as signing your death warrant as a company. Below you can find some of the most obvious trends of 2019.

- Personalization: In the past, mass production and mass marketing was popular. Companies were making mass production and with mass marketing, they were making the product popular so everybody was buying it. A few years ago, with the rise of social media and big data, this trend has started to change. People wanted to feel special and therefore, personalization concept has come into our lives. Companies which personalize marketing and produce products that can be personalized will continue to grow. Unfortunately, companies which cannot adapt to this trend will eventually die. - Remote Employees: With the rise of millennials among the workforce, remote working became the new norm especially for tech companies. If you want to hire the best employees and retain them in your company, as an employer, you should let them work remotely at least two days a week. This will give them the flexibility they need and enable them to be more creative since they are getting out of their daily routines by working somewhere else than office. - Crowdfunding: Crowdfunding will continue to rise not just as a tool to raise capital but also for validating new product ideas. Smart companies use crowdfunding platforms to engage with customers and learn from them early on. The best way to validate a new product is to ask your customers. Using these platforms, you can engage with your customers and as a result, you can reduce your risk, save money and accelerate new product’s time to market. - Green Products: Consumers started to become more aware of the planet and the damage they cause. For this reason, they tend to use green and eco-friendly products. They also care about being socially responsible and prefer to purchase from companies which not only want to earn revenues but also have a social mission and help the planet. If companies cannot go greener, then, they may face losing some of their customers.

ABOUT WNFPWestchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.

Friday, March 1, 2019

You’re probably aware that you have to spend money to make money. The good thing about a freelance business is you can start with a pretty bare business budget and still see results. You can build a solid foundation without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on bells and whistles. Here are important (and relatively affordable) business tools to invest in first that won’t break the bank:

What You Need for Your Freelance Startup

Get a System to Collect MoneyBy definition, freelancing is working for many different bosses instead of being employed by one boss. Collecting one check from an employer is as simple as pie. Invoicing and tracking many payments can get pretty challenging. Invest in a system that will make this process easier for you and the customer. Due offers invoicing and ways to collect payment online that are affordable.

Start an Email ListAn email list is key because it’s where you’ll keep in touch with your people. Typically, email services charge by the number of people on your list. A small email list won’t cost too much to manage in the beginning. MailChimp is the email service I used at first. It’s currently free up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails sent per month. The next plan up starts at $10 per month. MailChimp has a cool feature where you can estimate the cost of your email list as it grows here.

Sign Up for a Project Management SystemFreelancers juggle many projects at the same time. A project management system is one way to stay organized so you can meet all of your deadlines. The good news here is that many project management systems are completely free to use unless you get premium features. Asana and Trello are both systems that I’ve used in the past to manage different projects. Having a system in place to manage your projects will be a lifesaver when it’s time to outsource.

Invest in the Right MarketingPutting money into marketing can be a tricky business because you can easily go down the rabbit hole. There are many marketing strategies and social media platforms where you could invest your money and time.

If you don’t have much money to invest right now, the foundational elements are your website and social media pages on platforms most used by your audience. Your website and social profiles are like online business cards.

I’ve used WordPress for most of my websites. I’m a non-techy person who taught myself how to build sites with WordPress from scratch. There are a plethora of YouTube videos on how to start a WordPress site. Wix and Squarespace are other “drag and drop” website builders that may be easier to set up.

Invest in Teachings that Won’t Break the BankNo need to drop a lot of money on a business coach right away. Instead, focus on looking for clients and doing the work. Much of the information you need to learn about business comes from running your own business. If there’s an aspect of business you need to learn from a pro, try books first or affordable courses and then move on to the more costly options when you really need it.

Final WordStarting a business doesn’t have to be expensive. Build the foundation and then invest back into your business as the money starts coming in.

ABOUT WNFPWestchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business organization focused on providing our members and guests with an extraordinary networking experience, bringing business professionals together for the sole purpose of generating new relationships and developing new business opportunities. Not a member, learn how you can become a member and join this awesome group of professionals to connect and grow your business.